Did somebody say “moar Nega-Janet”?

Oh, come on; I know you were thinking it!

After years of pointedly not doing so, I’ve been trying to pay more attention to people around me, to their hair and facial features and what they’re wearing. This is the first real clothing experimentation/vairation I’ve done, and I think it made nega-Janet look pretty snazzy!

Negaverse alternate meets posiverse

After the Tao of Geek interlude, I now return you to Mad Scientist Wars pictures! Because we’re still not done with them, folks. These are my own characters, however, Janet Torvalds (Janitor) and her alternate.

Huh. I just got my hair cut, and apparently I now share nega-Janet’s cut. Ironically enough, I was trying not to make n-Janet look like me, since I usually have posi-Janitor’s cut and face.

In other news, I am completely tired out. I was tired at the end of last week too, but the weekend has managed to only exhaust me further. Luckily there are a ton of bright sides. For one thing, my schedule is so much easier in the coming week – a manageable amount of homework, and as few or as many appointments/responsibilities as I want to take on. Dan wants to bake cookies this week. I have a ticket to see Maya Angelou speak this Thursday, and the season primiere of Sanctuary is on Friday. Now if I can only make up for all the sleep I lost last week…

MSW: Robin Toboz, destroyer of worlds

I will be busy the entire weekend, yipee. If I keep up today’s productivity, though, the stress will be worth it.

Today’s offering: another illustration for Mad Scientist Wars Chapter 15! For Professor Zobot, whose illustrated post may be found here.

Robin Toboz was only a small part of the success of Zobot’s chapter. She was nutty even for a Mad, and unpredictable and child-like creepy. I wish I’d been able to capture that sheer insanity without being given spoilers. *sighs*

MSW: Duumvirate of Darkness

Bleh. Wanna know the reason why I chose a Sun.-Tues.-Thurs. update schedule? So that a post would be up by Mon.-Wed.-Fri., as I am counting on today. Hooray for large homework projects, late-night exams, and a number of projects that demand their own time commitments…

Anyway. Apparently my next few updates will all be Mad Scientist Wars related; I have only to choose which gets posted first. (The sad irony is that I have not had time to visit MSW for a few days, and may not be able to until Wednesday or Thursday night. *sighs*)

So. Comic dedicated to Prof. Zobot and Desius, I choose you! Some understanding of MSW may be necessary. As always, click for full-view.

Yeah, I go beddy-bye now…

The Mad Scientist War

Wheeee~! I was just going to post about my week – been out of Des Moines and around, going a bit crazy. BUT! New plan! I can now post about my Epic Picture. It really is the most epic thing I’ve ever drawn, and it took me maybe two weeks to finish. It was a secret request from Professor Zobot for his Mad Scientist Wars chapter, and now he’s posted it, and I can post about his post! You can find it here. The picture is so much better when paired with Zobot’s introduction to Chapter 15, Act 2. Seriously. Go check it out. And, if you haven’t yet, take a peek through the archives. They won’t bite! (But they may nom your free time, fair warning.)

Have you read Zobot’s post yet? Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

Alternate Battleground

Yay for more Tao of Geek fanart! This was created a while ago, like the last one. I just never ended up coloring it. I don’t think I want to. It’s done, or at least as done as it’s gonna get.

Yes, this is where I learned the sketchy-shadow dealie. Click on the thumbnail for a better look at the details.

***

*rubs hands together* Right then. Updates!

Regarding the 24 Hour Comic – I failed, as might be obvious, considering I didn’t post anything celebratory. I’m just too slow of a cartoonist. When I still had only four uninked pages at hour 9, I panicked and, consequently, gave up.

Currently, the plan is to finish the fifth page, and scan the lot in. The comic will be part of a series of prose and/or comic-form stories in the Tales of Madness thread of the Mad Scientist Wars. The last section will definitely be in comic form, but that’s probably a long time down the road. When the overarching story (working title: “Til Human Voices Wake Us”) ends, Dr. Derek Gluon and Trebaruna Quark will be ready to enter the main Wars.

In the meantime, I expect most of the story will be in prose. I’m all art-ed out right now. All I want to do is doodle… I’ll finish up some stuff (Frederic’s profile, some of the MSW fanart, hopefully “Breaking the 4th Wall 2008″), but I don’t expect to take on many more major projects until midsemester, maybe. Expect a lot of quick sketches and one-shot fiction in the weeks to come.

MSW: The Gift-Giver

Hehe, this bit of Mad Scientist Wars fanart has at least three different names, none of which really seem to fit. The original idea was entitled “Chinchilla Reindeer,” after Dr. Amino’s preferred choice of rodent to experiment on. As you can see, the picture below has no chinchillas in it. They were cut, due to increased complexity (and because I would like to spend more time practicing drawing chinchillas).

Because Dr. Amino has returned to the Wars (heh heh heh), I can post the colored version here! Her profile in the last entry will be updated soon as well.

This is wallpaper-sized, so click the thumbnail for full view.

Yarr!  ^^  I’m ready to get started on more artsy things, but I can’t. Or more accurately, I can, but I only have one day left in Chicago. Followed by a day of driving back to Des Moines, and helping Liz move into our apartment. And I may or may not have internet at the apartment…

*sighs* This could be bad for posting. We shall see.

MSW Profiles: Dr. Amino & Ingrid

Better, much better. But exhausted.  -_-

Dr. Dana Amino:

Ingrid:

I had hoped to get input back from Dr. Amino of the Mad Scientist Wars forum on the color of her character’s eyes before posting these. Sadly, I think Dr. Amino’s profile is the worst of the lot (second-worst if you count Zobot’s). The face isn’t quite right. I did a much better job drawing her in MSW seasonal fanart #1.

Ingrid, Dr. Amino’s henchwoman, is a-okay. I like her choice in clothing; it really set her apart from most of the Mads.

MSW Profiles: Blazerflarey & Janet Torvalds

Blazerflarey:

Janet Torvalds (click for full-size image):

See, what’d I tell ya? Eye candy. No, actually it was pretty liberating to do Blazerflarey’s profile. He’s pretty close to the guys I usually draw in terms of clothing and build, but the profile shows an evolved form of that. Maybe it’s just me, but I think the profile looks a lot more effortless. Also the proportions seem more or less right.

Like Jane Narbon, my own character Janet Torvalds got a dual profile. However, Torvalds only has two identities – well, three if you’re counting ‘Janet Torvalds’. What you see is what you get – Jane switches things up, but Torvalds uses a reliable difference between her identities to hide herself. So Gale doesn’t smile unless she’s in the Madness place, and Janitor presents herself as a lot more open and friendly. Hair color, appearance, height – all carefully modulated.

I do think Janitor is more of who Torvalds really is. Like Batman is the more real than Bruce Wayne. Yes, I just went there. I could I not? I like secret identities. But I didn’t want a hero character in the Wars, either. Thus: Janet. I hope that sometime over break I’ll have more of a chance to write something for her character.

***

I’ve been moody the last three days. Sleeping poorly, unable to concentrate, slightly grouchy. I crave ramen, and have almost finished the Least I Could Do archives. A predilection for Batman desktop wallpapers has emerged for some reason.

I am convinced that going back to work on artsy things is the solution. I need goals, something to drive my days over winter break. Sure I got a little sick of cartooning last week, but I only need one day off every once in awhile. Apparently three or four days off is overkill. So: fanart! I’m going to work on four of the MSW seasonal fanart pieces. The last one will take some time, but it’s not exactly seasonal, so I don’t mind its lateness. And I’ll begin work on Breaking the Fourth Wall 2008, shortly. I’m oddly tempted to do height line-ups of the characters I’ll use for that… Nah. That’d take too long.

MSW Profiles: Andrew & Jane

Urg. Christmas was both kind and cruel to me. Right now I’m fighting the self-destructive urge to pull an all-nighter and drown myself in webcomics or movies for awhile. It won’t help, but it’ll at least make me feel better temporarily. *sighs* I wish I had someone to hug right now.

More Mad Scientist Wars line-ups.

Prof. Andrew Tinker:

Jane Narbon (click for full view!):

I worked on Tinker’s for a long time, trying to get his clothing, stature, and build right. I think that all that work really helped me with the rest of the profiles, since it was the second one I did (after Zobot’s). For one thing, all those iterations made me remember why I stopped inking with ballpoint pens. Ballpoints are too hard to control, and you have to keep going back over your lines to get the ink flow even. That sucked and I went back to using my Microns. Then there was the fact that I couldn’t draw Andrew skinny enough, which led of course to my study of half-naked men of various builds, which would later lead me to being able to create a studly-looking Thad, as well as a sturdy-looking Des. ^^

I do feel sorry that Zobot missed out on la revolucion. David Toboz is supposed to be thin, but the build in the picture is clearly in between Thad’s chiseled and Des’s stocky. I should really redo his profile. But then, these line-ups were just supposed to be quick guides for my fanart… Eesh.

Jane Narbon’s dual line-up still makes me smile. I looked forward to doing it, and wanted to get her duality exactly the way I envisioned it. It is, after all, what makes her character so dangerous – her knowledge and use of others’ assumptions. With Jane, a kiss can be deadly; a necklace can record activity and trigger mental commands; a simple pair of heels can be jury-rigged into a device to both maim and cause confusion. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Jane Narbon. *claps*